NFL bans Patriots’ ineligible receiver ploy

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 25, 2015, 3:51 PM EDT

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The trick play the Patriots used against the Ravens in the playoffs will no longer be legal under an NFL rule adopted today.

The league has made it illegal for an offensive player with an eligible receiver’s jersey number (1-49 and 80-89) to report as an ineligible player and line up outside the tackle box. That means the play on which Patriots running back Shane Vereen lined up as an ineligible receiver in the slot would now be a penalty.

It was a crafty ploy by Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his staff to come up with that play, and it clearly caught the Ravens off guard. Baltimore coach John Harbaugh was so upset about the play that he got a penalty for yelling at the officials about it. A week later, the Patriots also caught the Colts off guard by playing tricks with eligible receivers.

But those tricks are coming to an end after a vote of the owners today.

LOL. Thus continues the annual changing of the rulebook specifically to stop the Pats from winning. What is this the fifth rule change in the last decade in response to whiny franchises who were beat fair and square by BB. & company? Is Harbaugh going to man up and take ownership of this rule change? Doubt it.

This is sort of “don’t hate the player, hate the game” territory. What Bill did was legal so it took exploitation to fix it, no problem there. BB is a creative play caller to say the least.

I remember playing NCAA ’11 thinking before it could be effective for a TE to run in a formation, and then Bill deployed Aaron in this way (haven’t really seen it before or since). Aaron “killed” it in that formation…

Barn door finally closes. Other coaches read the rule book so that they can coach the players. Belicheat reads it looking for loopholes. Can’t wait for that sneaky rat to be gone from the game for good.

Belichick is smirking somewhere… Hey if you can’t beat em’ complain about it. The other teams (Ravens cough cough) can’t figure it out so lets hold their hands threw each play. Maybe we can give them a “do over” too?

It was legal when they did it. Harbaugh cried. So now it’s not. Belichick’s probably laughing about it now. There’s a reason he used it against the Ravens. Not exactly mensas over there.

Funny, how it caused such an uproar. How different is it from tackle eligible plays? No one had a problem with big #76 catching a td pass on the fake field goal by the Seahawks in the NFC Championship against the Packers. All that trickery.

The don’t announce it over a load speaker…That was the problem…The ravens weren’t being informed who was eligible or not in a timely manner

It was announced by the ref and over the speaker in the stadium. The ref even told the Ravens not to cover him. Peter King timed the play, they had over 7 seconds to figure it out or use a time out. So many whiners, what a pathetic existence you all must lead that you let it bother you so much

I especially liked Bellichick’s response to whether Edelman was suffering the effects from a concussion: “I wasn’t aware of that.”
Now the NFL has to create an objective spotter to stop the game.
Thanks Bill!

We cannot outcoach you so we will take away as many legal moves as we possible can to catch up. It won’t help. The Dark Lord is already working on his next legal tactic to make your coach look stupid and then cry like a whiney baby.

There’s a difference between not knowing how the offense is going to try to move the ball and not knowing who on the offense if eligible to catch passes. One is strategy, the other is illegal deception, exploited via loophole.

My 7 year old daughter asked at dinner recently if Tom Brady plays for the Seahawks, because she hears his name a lot recently. I explained that no, he plays for the New England Patriots, to which she exclaimed, “Oh, he’s a cheater!”.

And that, in one 7 year old girl who doesn’t follow football’s impression, is a hint at the legacy of the Brady and Bellichick Patriots.

You know Belichick is a damn good coach when
the league has to come up with rules to make it
illegal the next year. Being a Texan fan, you have
to respect this man. He is good. Makes me wonder if ever in the history of the game had this already been tried before.

Fair and square huh? How about you stop giving us things to investigate- this, Deflategate and Spygate. Seems to be only one team that is a repeat offender in this league- so call it/lie to yourself however you want to about the annual changing.

Next up -ban the drop kick (flutie rule). Also need to ban Corner Backs who cut in front of receivers to make interceptions. How is that fair? Although I have to credit the Seahawks for taking ownership of their loss.

Haha. Do you realize how pathetic everyone sounds? Wow. Exactly where do these asterisks that you speak of go? In your personal NFL books? They won the Super Bowl. Get over it. Don’t be surprised if they’re right back doing it again next season.

This reminds me of how the Colts complained to the league after the Patriots embarrassed Peyton Manning and the Colts’ supposedly unstoppable offense in the 2003 AFC Championship Game.

After that beat down at the hands of the Patriots, Bill Polian and Tony Dungy used their influential positions on the league’s Competition Committee to ram through changes to the illegal contact and defensive holding are called, i.e., the so-called “increased emphasis”.

Same old story. A bunch of sore loser teams that can’t beat the Patriots on the field, so they have to change the rules.

Sorry – it won’t work. Belichick will just think of new ways to outsmart dimwits like Harbaugh and the rest.

Trick plays and gadget plays to barely win in their own house. Always a grey area with the Pats. From winning the game to now a penalty as well as the tuck rule now gone. Two Lombardi ‘ s made of paper.

Hahaha another asterik on that superbowl trophy
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Wow. This logic of enforcing new rules retroactively in order to negate previous championships seems to be a pattern.
Also if you can’t spell it, just use the symbol man.

Whether the Patriots’ gimmick was technically illegal or not, it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t against the spirit of the substitution rules.
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I don’t think spirits exist in rules, but if they did, it was more against the spirits of the formation rules, not the substitution rules. They didn’t change substitution rules. They changed formation rules. This would be an illegal formation penalty now. You can run an offense of entirely eligible number players with five of them declared ineligible. You just have to line those guys up in the core of the formation now.

If you want to complain about dumbing-down of the game, this rule change is it. That formation forced the defense to think, and think fast. It’s a shame that the NFL doesn’t want defenses to have to do that.

All you morons who think the patriots cheated are just jealous that your team didn’t think of it. Why don’t you just concern yourselves with why your team has not made the playoffs or won just one Super Bowl. The cheating comments are just getting old and you sound like whiney babies

Why is everyone whining and crying about this. It was a loophole in the substitution rule. There’s a reason why specific positions have to have specific jersey numbers. The Pats didn’t cheat, they just exploited the loophole. Nothing wrong with that, but now that it was exposed its been closed…also not a big deal.

The league changes another rule to try and stop my team and the greatest coach to ever coach the game.

Sorry offense\defense linemen no more touch downs for you. The Ravens cried so much they had to change the rules…. We wouldn’t want to confuse the defense.

I imagine next year the new rule change is that QB has to count to 3 Mississippi before throwing the ball. Its just not in the spirit of the game that Brady throws the ball before the defense has a chance to sack him.

Cant explain how great it has been to be a patriot fan for the last 15 years. The entire league has tried to hold us back with out any success.

this is what happens when you have a genius in the midst of morons……….the morons cry ‘that’s not fair!! he uses his brain!!’

I’ll bet he has an entire notebook full of this crap and next year will spring some other stroke of genius on a complete dope who will stand there with his mouth open….then the minions can run around in circles and make another rule

the next thing you know there will be a IQ cap on the coaching positions

I said it before. If you wonder why the rule book keeps getting more complex, blame the Loophole Hoodie.
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I blame the people who keep changing the rulebook in response to what he does. When writing rules, the amount of loopholes is directly proportional to the length and complexity of the rules. If you want fewer loopholes, write simpler more concise rules.

Any fans that are not Patriot, come here for therapy when they see a Post regarding the pats. Any post!
They need to get stuff off there chests that’s been bothering them for awhile. Some latent and hidden stuff, passive aggressive behavior perhaps even displacement.
All are apparently welcome… To bash the Patriots and hangout at PFT home of Tom florio.
Seriously?? Really???

It wasn’t illegal, but it did skirt the intention of the rule. No one has ever reported as an ineligible receiver.
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What you mean to say is, “No one has ever reported as an ineligible receiver in a non-obvious scrimmage kick situation.” Eligible players report ineligible all the time on punt teams.

They need to ban Belicheat, its ridiculous that because something isn’t explicitly written in the rule he sees it as an opportunity to gain an edge. Its not genius, its shady. This is the 2nd time I know of that the NFL had to rewrite or add different language to the rule. You people defending him are blind.

Do you trolls even realize how pathetically desperate your comments sound? You’re just dripping with envy. Your emotional spewtem comes across as little more than a childish rant that has earned you lombardi timeout after lombardi timeout! Keep it coming …I love it!

All the NFL rules can be changed but it doesn’t change the fact that Harbaugh didn’t know WHAT was going on, and he completely lost his cool. He also said “it’s never been done before” which is a lie, Saban has done it, and Chip Kelly has, as well. It’s only “deceptive” because he didn’t know how to handle it. Head coach should know the rulebook inside and out, nothing should be unfamiliar to him. Harbaugh was embarrassed because he didn’t know what to do.

Belichick is so head and shoulders above everyone else that it’s comical. Reminds me of elementary school when playground rules had to be changed so nobody had their feelings hurt.

Why is everyone whining and crying about this. It was a loophole in the substitution rule. There’s a reason why specific positions have to have specific jersey numbers. The Pats didn’t cheat, they just exploited the loophole. Nothing wrong with that, but now that it was exposed its been closed…also not a big deal.
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It wasn’t a loophole, and the substitution rule hasn’t been changed. The formation rule has. E players declared IE now have to line up in the core of the formation. Don’t worry annaterp: there’s probably still a way for BB to confuse the Baltimorons even with this restriction.

I’m not a Patriots fan or hater. But that play is kinda like running up the score on an opponent. Seems wrong and unsportsmanlike on the surface. But it’s (well, it WAS) legal. And quite frankly if a team don’t like it; stop the team. If you don’t want a team to run up the score – stop them. If you don’t want them to beat you with this play – stop them.

sportnut92 says:
Mar 25, 2015 4:01 PM
Are the Patriots really “cheaters” or is Bill that much more crafty than other coaches?
Bill doing what he does best, exposing the NFL system and the “integrity” it claims.

Meanwhile in Foxboro, The Lombardi Trophy is glistening elegantly at Gilette Stadium, home of the World Champion New England Patriots.*

*Please Note the most successful franchise, and ONLY dynasty in the Salary Cap Era.
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Yes, yes they are cheaters. That Lombardi Trophy may glisten, but even the light that glistens off of it is tainted. Cheating is cheating, no matter how you twist it.

They ARE the only dynasty since the salary cap era, but they are also the only team proven to cheat… not once, but twice! They also get away with much more than they should “Tuck Rule”.
The Patriots are like that one blonde girl in the group of girls that stands out with her big breasts and long flowing hair… Yeah, sure they both look real good, but inside you know that everything about them is fake.

Are most of the posters here little school girls? “Cheaters, not in the spirit of the rule, blah blah blah”. I mean come on now. If this was a head coach for a team you cheered for would you be typing the same thing? Jealousy turns people into whiny excuse making clowns.

Spygate: The rule was implemented in 2006…the Pats titles were in 2001-2002, 2003-2004, and 2004-2005 so filming signals from the sidelines was legal.

Formationgate: The plays were run in the 2014-2015 season. The new rule goes into affect for 2015-2016. The plays were legal.

Yeah, it makes sense. They were doing nothing wrong at the time, but it’s tough for a defense to keep up with the personnel in a no-huddle, let alone which of them are eligible receivers.
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They weren’t in no-huddle. Against BAL, there was a an offensive substitution (Kline for Vereen/Hooman) and huddle before every 4-OL play.

azarkhan excuse for losing is not running it down the throats of the Pats when they had the chance. I love how there are 90% for the rule and 10% patriot homers who really have no opinion because Tom Brady could burn the American flag and they would have an excuse why charcoal is bad.

Doesn’t this new rule eliminate a classic offensive line formation… the swinging gate formation where the center lines up away from the other linemen?
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No. IE players can still line up wherever they want on the LOS as long as they are covered by an end.

Remember the tear-away jerseys? Will we now have tear-away numbers held on by velcro, so a player can be wearing #85 and tear it off in the huddle to show #75 to make him a O-lineman? Will he then have to report as ineligible since his number already says he is ineligible? Can the refs count that high?

Vince Lombardi and chuck knoll are smiling. New England asterisks can’t win without cheating or trick plays. It would nice to see New England win one super bowl by just being better than the other team. Always looking to cheat or bend the rules.

The most entertaining thing I find on here is Patriots fans who think every bending of the rule is so brilliant and cutting edge and how everybody else just points out they changed the rules because of the clear advantage it gave the Patriots in a very clear unfair way.

Good for Belichick for knowing how to manipulate the rules like that. He truly is a genius at his job.

However all the Patriots fans trying to act like because they wear a Patriots logo are somehow better and smarter than the rest of the NFL’s fan base is just sad and pathetic.

You fans didn’t win the rings, you might want to settle down before you start looking like…..Patriots fans.

And they should make Tom Brady sit out the 4th quarter of every game. That might level the playing field.
They should also ban ends arounds, halfback passes, fake field goals, read option plays, fake hand offs, etc. etc.
I guess the deceitful Pagano & Harbaugh should be pleased with themselves.
If you can’t beat them then change the rules. Real nice.

Accusations of cheating….the last refuge of teams that lose to the pats.

This rule change is not a response to make the game more “fair,” it’s just to shut up the whiners and create more media hype for the analysts to fuel their long winded editorials on the matter. NFL knows how to stay in the headlines and rustle up the fervor that creates profits.

The hate people have for Brady and the Pats is really pathetic. Brady is a class guy and the Pats are consistent winners. People are so jealous of these guys it is sad. If their coach was smart enough to come up with things to win FOUR Super Bowls, they would love it. If Tom Brady was an ugly looking goof like Payton Manning and not married to the most wanted women in the WORLD, people would love him.

Again, I’m not even a Pats fan but I respect them. Don’t hate, congratulate.

The way I’ll always remember Tom Terrific – complaining to a ref about something.

——————

Why not try and influence the referees when they make a call you don’t like. That’s just smart and competitive. When paying someone millions of dollars it’s not ok for them to be passive. They need to fight for everything. Some kind of guy code about not being whiney to the referees isn’t really important.

I’m not a Pats fan by any means, but this does not make them cheaters. It just shows you how smart Bill and his coaching staff are. They find an legal way to take advantage of the other team and it work. Now if they try it again this year with the rule now in place then that would be cheating.

Hahaha another asterik on that superbowl trophy
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Wow. This logic of enforcing new rules retroactively in order to negate previous championships seems to be a pattern.
Also if you can’t spell it, just use the symbol man.
_______________________________
Too funny. By their logic, you could have been using a legal parking space for a year. Then, when they make illegal to park there, you are guilty of illegal parking for all of the previous times you parked there. Yes I know, its stupid, but that is the type of logic we Patriot fans have to wade through every time there is a thread on the Patriots.

Say what you want about the Hoodie, but it seems like there are the Patriots and then the rest of the league trying to adapt to what they do. They stand alone and apart from the coaching strategies of the rest of the league. I am not a PATS fan but give credit where credit is due. When Bill wants to punk you he will.

Do people understand it’s against the rules next season?
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Wrong…. Next year, these morons will be saying we cheated in announcing an ineligible receiver with 7 seconds prior to the snap. Belicheat should have been penalized 15 yards for not calling a time out for each time crybaugh couldn’t understand why people were not line up by the numbers.

Vozki….. I only watch the best parts….. That would be the play AFTER Butler’s interception when they were near their goal line, the Hawks ready to blitz, except some dummy wearing a blue Jersey jumped offsides…

Take away play action, fake punts and kicks and onside kicks. They are deceptive and undermine the integrity of the game.
Jeff Fisher said this rule was needed because the refs wouldn’t be able to handle those type of plays

of course it’s a trick. The NFL has numbers for eligible receivers but is too lazy to make sure that rules are consistent. You have a player wearing a number that makes human eligible receiver who lines up in an eligible receiver position but reports as ineligible to the official. Why have numbers for eligible receivers if you let them reports ineligible? Makes no sense.

I would not call this a ‘trick play’. It is more pure manipulation of a rule. And so much so that doing things like this could likely lead to the original rule being thrown out all together.
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Manipulating the rule? So NE changed the rule for that play? Do you realize how silly that sounds?

The only thing that was manipulated by NE was BAL’s expectations on who was eligible to receive a forward pass. The rule remained the same.

It will be fun watching New England get beat up next year now that there are some legitimate teams in the afc east.
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Which teams are those? Everyone else still has bad to terrible quarterbacks and the best non-BB coach is still Rex Ryan.

Patriots and the rest of the league… This slaps in the face of every punt and field goal formation… I mean, these are paid professionals whom are supposed to understand the rule book… This is what separates bill and the pats from the rest of the league.. Some teams can barely run a play. The patriots are smart enough to use deception in a game that is bases in quick reaction… Prayalsis by analysis… Simple shun tzu “Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable;

When using our forces, we must seem inactive;

When we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away;

When far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
He’s a navy guy!!! That’s why he’s the best!!!!

Ravc82… It’s not the Pats fault their opponent could not comprehend what was going on. When a mouth breathing neanderthal like Suggs continues to run after a player the head referee just told him specifically not to cover, I’d say the players AND coaches have failed to do their jobs. Who exactly was supposed to cover Amendola when he was left wide open for the TD catch from Edelman? Yet another failure of both players and coaches to do their job. Jump Ball Joe sends a bomb into double coverage for the INT, etc, etc. Ravens fans should be screaming at their highly paid players and coaches for failing, instead we get the constant crying that the Pats must be cheating, Deflategate, Spygate, blah blah blah. It’s pathetic.

This formation has been legal forever and has been used in youth football all the way to the NFL. Just because the Ravens players werent smart enough to figure it out doesnt mean they should make it illegal!!!!

“lets have 5 people report in and have the D guess who will be going out for the pass”

With all due respect, you are an idiot. Figuring out who the eligible receivers are is actually pretty straightforward.

Of the guys ON the line of scrimmage, only the two outside guys are eligible. Of the players who are BEHIND the line of scrimmage, only those with eligible numbers are eligible, UNLESS players have reported otherwise.

Put it this way – the ref yelling out “Number 34 is ineligible. Don’t cover # 34” should have been a clue.

“In the Baltimore game, [Shane] Vereen reported as ineligible several times,” Dungy explained. “If he stays in the game he must report again and continue to be ineligible. He must come out of the game for one play or there has to be a time out for him to play as an eligible receiver. On the touchdown drive Vereen played one play as ineligible and then played the next play in an eligible position. There should have been a penalty.”

it is illegal, and even all the smart comments about high school, it is even more regulated there. In fact you cannot even have a tackle report as eligible, it is number driven. Been coaching for thirty years. It was dirty and violated the spirit of competition. Same reason you don’t run play up by 40 points at the one yard line and the ned of the game to go up by 47, except BB will, look it up versus the redskins (not exact scoring, but same scenarios, even put his starters back in to run up score)

Why have numbers for eligible receivers if you let them reports ineligible? Makes no sense.
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It’s because of punting plays. If you say that E numbered players can’t line up in IE positions, you’d have to add an exception for punts or else make sure your entire punt coverage team is IE-numbered players. Considering that a lot of those guys are backup RBs, DBs, and TEs*, you’d probably end up with the exception.

I’m trying to figure how this changes the whole “announcement” problem? So what if a “eligible” has to stay inside the tackles if declared ineligible? You can still hand them the ball right? Don’t you still have to account for the “new eligible” whether it’s a tackle or whatever? Declare the QB “ineligible” and add another “eligible” receiver? I mean the QB is an “eligible” receiver right? I’ve seen those trick plays where they catch passes from the Waterboy?

Now, take away a rule the Patriots used (exploited) in ONE GAME all year long. Not over and over. In ONE GAME. And in only one sequence of plays at that.

And what do we hear? The NFL takes away rules to keep the Patriots down. You seriously need to check yourselves Pats fans. One freakin’ game, just a few plays and you all turn it into a conspiracy against the Pats. Funny!!!!!

As a Ravens fan, I congratulate you. But I have to objectively ask, why run that formation in that game? The Ravens had back-ups upon back-ups in the secondary. You guys had the Ravens on their heals anyway at that point in the game. To be candid, I think you win that game without that formation. Why run it?

BB always has to be the smartest guy in the room. And he is many times. But I am starting to think he over thinks things too much. That is why he has gotten himself in trouble in the past (let’s not forget he was fined and the organization was fined for misdeeds).

Enjoy your Lombardi Pats fans. But, it could not be more obvious with this rule change what the rest of the league thinks of your tactics.

Look, I’m a Raider fan, an organization so inept you could forgive me for having Pats envy and hatred (tuck rule) But the fact is Bill B and company did nothing wrong and if nothing else, made the game that much more interesting that day. It was legal, now it’s not, and it doesnt take jack squat away from their victory that day.

There are also rules about going “inside the numbers” before splitting out. They announced the refs with 1.5 seconds on the play clock, the spirit of the rule is that the defense can line up knowing who the receivers are. If you can’t win without cheating, shouldn’t be playing….

It will be fun watching New England get beat up next year now that there are some legitimate teams in the afc east.

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It will be fun watching. It’s always better when the AFC East teams are better. The Patriots are still better though. Brady, Belichick and Gronk. Simple as that. The Patriots will split at worst with all 3 teams and probably sweep one of them. The division could come down to the end of the season, but the Patriots will not be getting beat up by anyone.

Don’t forget Brady has played against a younger and better Revis and Cromartie, He’s faced Suh on a better d-line. He still beat them. He just beat an elite defense in the Super Bowl. It comes down to what the AFC East teams can do on offense, which is not much without better QB play.

Pats fans need to understand that no one will ever respect New England they way they respect truly great franchises like pittsburgh, the Giants, and Cowboys. These were franchises that played hard nose football and won because they were the better team. Last minute FGs and a gift from the Hawks combined with asterisks are not what legends are made of. Heck they weren’t even the best team in the AFC last year. The Ravens completely outplayed them when it came to real football.

Anyone that claims that the Pats “cheated” their way to FOUR Super Bowl wins, SIX AFC Championships, and 12 Division titles since Tom Brady took over at QB is either a pure hater or just not very bright. This reminds me of the whole “I Hate Christian Laettner/Duke” thing.

Again, stop the hate and instead congratulate. Maybe it will help you feel better about YOURSELF.

“dukeearl says:
Mar 25, 2015 4:09 PM
Actually if the Patriots were able to beat a team straight up without gimmicks nobody would call them cheaters.
Too bad they aren’t good enough to play straight up football without the gimmicks.”

So the CHEATERS won’t be able to use this any more! Good! I’m sure they will try to figure out something else to use so they can CHEAT TO WIN! Plus by the away the Pat’s didn’t win the super bowl! Seattle gave it to them!

I’m trying to figure how this changes the whole “announcement” problem? So what if a “eligible” has to stay inside the tackles if declared ineligible? You can still hand them the ball right? Don’t you still have to account for the “new eligible” whether it’s a tackle or whatever? Declare the QB “ineligible” and add another “eligible” receiver? I mean the QB is an “eligible” receiver right? I’ve seen those trick plays where they catch passes from the Waterboy?
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There is and was no announcement problem, and you are correct that this rule change changes nothing about announcements.

While you can hand the ball to any IE, that handoff or pass has to be backwards.

The QB is eligible because he’s in the backfield. At some levels he can only catch a pass if he starts more than a yard from the LOS. If you declare him IE, he has to be on the line between the ends and in the core of the formation.

Let me start by saying I’m an Eagles fan and I can’t stand the Patriots. But if you are on here calling them cheaters you are a moron. They didn’t cheat. They didn’t bend the rules. They outsmarted the other team with a confusing, LEGAL formation. That is the key word: LEGAL! Therefore the rules were not broken or “bent”. It was Bellicheck outcoaching yet another coach. I can only hope that Bill’s good buddy Chip was paying attention.

Faninva quoting dungy:
“In the Baltimore game, [Shane] Vereen reported as ineligible several times,” Dungy explained. “If he stays in the game he must report again and continue to be ineligible. He must come out of the game for one play or there has to be a time out for him to play as an eligible receiver. On the touchdown drive Vereen played one play as ineligible and then played the next play in an eligible position. There should have been a penalty.”

Dungy was wrong. Vereen was IE twice and Hooman was once. The only time Vereen was IE and didn’t come off for the next play was the play before Harbaug’s penalty. Because of the penalty, Vereen didn’t have to come off. That play was a touchdown, if you recall.

This reminds me of how the Colts complained to the league after the Patriots embarrassed Peyton Manning and the Colts’ supposedly unstoppable offense in the 2003 AFC Championship Game.

After that beat down at the hands of the Patriots, Bill Polian and Tony Dungy used their influential positions on the league’s Competition Committee to ram through changes to the illegal contact and defensive holding are called, i.e., the so-called “increased emphasis”.

Same old story. A bunch of sore loser teams that can’t beat the Patriots on the field, so they have to change the rules.

Sorry – it won’t work. Belichick will just think of new ways to outsmart dimwits like Harbaugh and the rest.
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Man you can tell you’re a Pats fan, Dungy never had anything to do with the Competition Committee and as for as a rule change, there wasn’t one, they just made the refs enforce the rule that was on the rulebook.
Your owner is a member if there was anything a-mist why didn’t he say something?

Its’ really amazing how the style of “football” the Patriots play brings out so many negative comments.

I think the reason why is that so often the means they use to win just doesn’t sit right.

For example, the game was not designed for a team to gain a competitive advantage by quick snapping a ball to catch a 12th man on the field who is nowhere near the line of scrimmage and can’t possibly be in the play. The Patriots have incorporated that scenario into their playbook to perfection. But that’s not playing football.

I can’t count how many times I’ve seen Brady do that and obtain a first down, leading to a score. It violates the spirit of the game, as does the hurry up offense.

The NFL has belatedly come to realize that the defense should have an opportunity to have the appropriate defensive squads on the field. The hurry up was designed to sneak a play in when the other team was not ready to play.

The eligible/ineligible scheme is a similar stunt.

The game was designed to be played your best against my best. If you don’t let my best get on the field and you succeed, you’re not succeeding at football, you’re succeeding at being a sneak.

Pats fan’s shouldn’t complain. The Redskins and Cowboys didn’t break any rules in 2012 during the uncapped year. But that didn’t stop the rest of the owners from penalizing them salary cap space for next two years for “violating the spirit of the salary cap”. It somehow gave the Redskins and Cowboys a perceived advantage. What the Pats did resulted in an actual advantage during an actual game and affected the outcome of a game. But in the owners’ minds spending over a nonexistent cap that all owners agreed to, is a much more heinous action and deserves severe punishment.

Unbalanced lines have been used for years. Yes. Yes. Yes. But not with the ineligible player wearing eligible player numbers. It just has not been done and don’t tell me it has. It hasn’t. Hence this controversy!

So your second tackle at the line of scrimmage who has declared himself ineligible, looks like a slot receiver. I doubt many of you even understand this reference.

And spare me the official told the Ravens who not cover. What player in their right mind takes coverage instructions from an official?!

Good grief. Just stop. You really think any of us are buying this “it was so simple to identify and stop.” It wasn’t. And in a close game, who wants to blow time outs unless you absolutely need to. You may need them later.

And if you all are that sharp, why aren’t you coaching in the NFL. My goodness, you all should be great head coaches in the NFL as disciples of the great BB. You all should be able to out coach any of the HC in the league. Right?! Go back in your basement and play Madden more.

If it’s legal…you can’t be mad that it was used. I don’t know why the league would ban something that’s totally legal. I mean the refs openly report who the eligible receiver is so it’s the other team’s fault.

Laws are constantly changing to combat criminal activity. And so that’s what we got here, a system trying to improve vs. a corrupt coach who has proven he can’t win with a level playing field.
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You can complain that it was a trick, but you cannot complain that it was not a level playing field. Any team could have done this and it would have been just as legal. That’s as level a playing field as it gets.

Loops and tricks are part of the evolution of the game, Think back to when they started passing the football down the field all the way up to the wild cat. It was these innovators that progressed the game.

For all those whom complain about bending the competitive rules…. This is a mans league run by billionaires played by millionaires. Let them be men and stop trying to give trophies out to everyone. There can only be one winner! This wasn’t underhanded it was done in front of everyone. Pats said Here NFL figure it out.

I agree that this wasn’t cheating but instead a well crafted manipulation of a rule with a loop hole in it, but some of you fans have very selected memory.
The tuck “rule” single handedly started the patriot dynasty. Nobody heard of that rule before that moment and quite frankly the rule hasn’t made an impact since.
So let’s not cry afoul like the league is after the patriots I don’t believe that for a millisecond.

Running, throwing, blocking, and tackling. That’s football. Geniuses like Bill Walsh, Vince Lombardi, and even Bill Belichick were able to win multiple super bowls by just outplaying their opponents. This hocus pocus stuff isn’t going to get the TV ratings that the owners make $Billions from, and they’re smart enough to realize that. It just comes down to money.

Tuck Rule was a rule called exactly as it was supposed to. It had been in place for 2 years and throughout the time it was a rule was called typically once a year against every team in favor of the opposing offense. The Pats lost a game earlier that year because the Tuck was called in favor of the Jets.

Spy Gate was one game, the first game of the 2007 season. Before that sideline taping was legal and quite a few teams did it. including the Jets who were seen taping the Pats, and including HOF coach Jimmy Johnson saying he had done so for a couple seasons and stopped because he found it gave him zero advantage. It was not some magical telepathic system like you and the rest of the bspn hysteria crowd seem to think. All it did was make it slightly easier to collar the data that every team gathers on every other team as compared to collating it off it being charted on a piece of paper.

Deflategate was manufactured by whiny Jim Harbaugh, his toady Pagano at the Colts and the former Jets employees of the Colts and the league office. Seems very obvious that the one ball significantly under pressure was deflated by the Colts.

The receivers were all eligible, they were all announced over the PA system, and in fact on the TV broadcast at one point several seconds before the play the refs helped the Ravens with one of the refs screaming “don’t cover 34, 34 is ineligible”.

Edelman passed all concussion tests on the sideline, he was not only not concussed, but crawling a little after a couple of the plays because he had a previous hip injury he was playing through.

Don’t let actual facts get in the way of your whiny, emotional crybaby rant though.

I’m just glad we have a coach who was smart enough to use a strategy when he needed it most to help get to the Super Bowl and then win it. I hope he stays two steps ahead of the others. I’ll take his smarts over what’s his name’s bluster any day.

Without loops and tricks what do you have? It ceases to be a game. Soon they are going to make everyone weigh the same, run the same speed be the same height? What about advantages outside of the game that teams take advantage of like field conditions? Indoor/outdoor? Grow up and start acting like a man instead of petulant little kids who need to complain how life is not fair.

I agree that this wasn’t cheating but instead a well crafted manipulation of a rule with a loop hole in it, but some of you fans have very selected memory.
The tuck “rule” single handedly started the patriot dynasty. Nobody heard of that rule before that moment and quite frankly the rule hasn’t made an impact since.
So let’s not cry afoul like the league is after the patriots I don’t believe that for a millisecond.

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Tuck rule good point on rules v pats.

Also wouldn’t an under inflated football allow a better grip making it easier to make the said ”tuck” especially in inclement weather. This most likely was going on from that time at least if not longer.

“Nobody heard of that rule before that moment and quite frankly the rule hasn’t made an impact since.
So let’s not cry afoul like the league is after the patriots I don’t believe that for a millisecond. ”

Actually the tuck rule was called several time before it became the crux of every patriots haters argument. It even went against the patriots.

“The tuck rule was called in Week 2 of an NFL regular season match-up on September 23, 2001” Pats vs Jets and you know who benefited? The Jets.

Probably the reason we even had the ability to do this on special teams is because someone was smart enough to use a legal alignment and repeatedly stuff punters or kickoffs, so they change the rule to “allow” alternative formations. Now the rule was used in a new creative way.

Don’t hate on Belichick for using a LEGAL formation against your team, frikken play football. Line up, block and tackle, it’s not that hard.

Sorry, I didn`t read all the posts , I have a question for all you`against the spirit of the rule` advocates. How is this any different than a hurry up offense to stop defensive substitutions or quick snaps to catch the defense with 12 men on the field? It appears to me that these also are against the spirit of the rules!

The game was designed to be played your best against my best. If you don’t let my best get on the field and you succeed, you’re not succeeding at football, you’re succeeding at being a sneak.
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Your first statement – upon which everything else you say relies – is belied by basically every team ever trying to quicksnap if the defense attempts to sub during a no-huddle offense. Furthermore: on the plays in question BAL had ample opportunity to sub while NE was huddled. The problem for BAL was that they didn’t recognize the personnel package and didn’t sub. Basically: their “best” weren’t smart enough to see that something was weird and check into a nice safe Cover 2 zone.

Bad boy Belichick! You shouldn’t think of things like that…. It’s not fair. The Ravens can’t even spell eligible and you expect them to figure out the intricacies of the rules? Now…now… behave yourself and strive for mediocrity. It’s the new national virtue. We’ll lower everything so everybody will be happy and nobody gets offended. I know that look Belichick! Don’t even think about it!!!

The rule states each player must declare his eligibility to referee before certain amount of time in order to give the defense enough time to identify the ineligible & eligible WR and to lineup accordingly. The problem is there is no penalty attached to it either way and the rule failed to state ineligible WR should stay between the OTs. The Patriots DID CHEAT. The defense did not have proper time to establish who was eligible and who was not. That’s cheating. When the NYJ did it to Patriots they gave enough time and weren’t using this on no huddle plays. NFL is dumb for not specifying ineligible WR need to line up between OTs and patriots took it beyond exploiting a loophole as soon as Ravens didn’t have enough time to identify and lineup properly. The rule is to prevent what the Patriots did from happening…. THAT’S CHEATING. NFL is stupid for not giving this rule more detail and failed to attach a penalty but still cheating.

As a Ravens fan, I congratulate you. But I have to objectively ask, why run that formation in that game? The Ravens had back-ups upon back-ups in the secondary. You guys had the Ravens on their heals anyway at that point in the game. To be candid, I think you win that game without that formation. Why run it?
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A trick like that is most likely to work against an low football IQ team without strong leadership and communication – which is exactly what BAL’s defense was. While this BAL defense is very instinctive, instinct can be fooled by messing with expectations. It’s like showing a blitz to one side of the line and then bringing it from the other. IMHO, that play never would have worked against a BAL defense with RL or ER, because those guys were both instinctive and smart. RL in particular would have seen it and checked to zone, checked to a blitz, or called time out.

The rule states each player must declare his eligibility to referee before certain amount of time in order to give the defense enough time to identify the ineligible & eligible WR and to lineup accordingly.
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That happened. There was seven to ten seconds from referee’s announcement to snap. You’re also wrong that there’s not a penalty attached. It’s five yards for illegal substitution if you don’t inform the ref. Lastly: the defense doesn’t get time to establish who is and isn’t eligible. They get time to match a sub and the offense has to declare any altered eligbilities. That’s it. There’s no time granted to decode a weird formation. The rules expect that the defense should know that only the two ends and men in the backfield are eligible.

“Since are PA announcements accepted as replacement for official, on-field statements by a ref, on any subject?”

They didn’t JUST announce it over the PA, you ignoramus, they also informed the Ravens’ defense. Even Harbaugh admitted that.

Harbaugh has NEVER claimed that the Ravens weren’t informed of what the Pats were doing. His only complaint was that he didn’t think the Ravens were given enough time to figure out how to defend the plays…

…which is b.s.. Refs aren’t required to stop the game to allow dim witted coaches time to figure out what’s going on.

“And that, in one 7 year old girl who doesn’t follow football’s impression, is a hint at the legacy of the Brady and Bellichick Patriots.”

Actually this is the legacy of every aspect of the media (including Hollywood) in our country. If you keep repeating something long enough, it becomes ingrained as truth, especially to 7 year old girls.

My point being there will be so many limitless possibilities with the formations, with a quick snap by the offense it will be impossible for any defense, intelligent or not, to be able read and adjust to so many possibilities.

Unless I am reading the new definition of the rule wrong, isn’t that more of a “modification” to the rule than a “banning” of that particular play? So… the ineligible receiver has to be “inside the tackle box” now – so now Belichick will riff on THAT just to shove it up the NFL’s nose. Somehow, he will do it.

Harbaugh wasn’t yelling at the official because he was tricked. He was yelling at the official and stopped the game by walking on the field because the refs were not allowing time for Baltimore to react and sub before the Patriots snapped the ball.

Everyone whining about this have no reason to. From coaches, to the media, and fans. It was clear vereen announced “ineligible” to the refs. I don’t see where there was any wrongdoing. All I see is stupidity from harbaugh and incompetence from the officials.

Tom Brady was winning Super Bowls long before these trick plays. Belichick would have been smart to wait until Brady retires, because he might need some extra help. But, since Belichick is smart I’m sure he’s planning to retire when Brady retires.

Why should football players need to be intellegent to play? Perhaps they should ban the halfback pass since clearly it is a deceptive play and could confuse some dumb jocks on poorly coached teams. Ridiculous.

I don’t like the Patriots, but everybody cheats. What’s the old saying, “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.” If you look hard enough, I’m sure you can find skeletons in every team’s closet. It’s the nature of this or any uber-competitive business. I’m sure we could find plenty of reasons to put asterisks on plenty of SB champs. In the end, all that matters, really and truly as mercenary sports fans is: did they win? Doesn’t matter how they got there. Putting asterisks on champions is done by jealous fans who, in turn, would bend over backwards to defend their own team’s championship if others wanted to put an asterisk on it. Congrats to the Pats for being smarter than most.

Idiots try to simplify things for coaches by using numbers to identify receivers, only to add to the confusion when a coach uses that stupidity against another team, so the bonehead owners change the rules of the game to make the original dumb idea work.

These guys should find a quiet happy hour where they can’t do any harm and leave the rulemaking to someone who watches the games.

Proud to be a fan of two of the greatest coaches of all-time. Bill Belichick and Red Auerbach both won multiple championships, were known as innovators and got the most out of the players they had. Best of all, their leagues constantly changed rules because all the inferior competition had no clue how to keep up with them.

I knew the NFL would ban those plays within the next couple seasons. They didn’t want the entire league based on forcing defenses to figure out which numbers were eligible and which were not based on the refs yelling out some numbers 2 seconds before the play. The Pats plays followed the letter of the rule but not the intent.

Next they are going to ban the Statue of Liberty play, faking the onside kick, the end around, the hook and ladder, the flea flicker and the direct snap. I mean, after all, aren’t all of those trick plays?

Get used to it Pats fans, they did this to the Raiders many times back in the day. If a team has success doing something they’ve never seen before, you can bet a rule will be added. Rest easy though, that formation did not win the SB for you.

I love the idiots who claim the Pats deserve an asterisk…… If they do it should say something like this * During this time they won 11 straight AFC EAST championships and went to 6 AFC championships while winning 4 SUPER BOWLS……

Exploiting another team’s inability to see what is actually in front of them (and what they have actually been told by the officials) is not a trick play, nor is it cheating. That is called being better prepared than your competition. The NFL just basically said the rest of the NFL cannot compete intellectually or strategically with Belichick.

When the Ravens smacked the Patriots around it was good old fashioned football. Not horsecrap gimmicks. Cheap tricks and the Patriots still barely won. At home. Ravens will be back in Foxboro for the playoffs again this year. Joe will drop another 4 touchdowns and this B S won’t save Brady this time.

Actually the Patriots can run the same play again next year without breaking the new rule. They ran it this way a couple of times already.

They can have the ineligible receiver still line up in the slot receiver position, all they need to do is cover him up with a tackle on the outside. This expands the tackle box around him. They did it that way in both the Ravens and Colts games. So really, the rule change means nothing.

No surprise that dumb and cheap NFL owners would keep any new innovation (even if its from the college world and legal there) from being a factor because the coaches and players are too dumb to see and prevent this.

And its no surprise the dumb and cheap NFL owners refused to add cameras and re-plays that would ensure a more accurate NFL game. The owners do not care about the game, just getting your money.

This wasn’t even a brilliant move by Belichek. Alabama was doing this in college last year! Other coaches knew about this ploy… They just had the integrity to try to out coach opponents… Not use loopholes and force the league to make rules to try to get you to play fair. Honestly, NE can’t win the big game unless they have a advantage that’s either blatant cheating or just unethical cheating on the field.

Belicheat isn’t a genius or a brilliant coach, he is flat out cheap and dirty. Great coaches don’t need cheap tactics to win, they simply out execute the other team. Oh and this isn’t innovation either, it is an unethical interpretation of the rule.

Exploiting a loophole is breaking a rule that doesn’t exist- but should. Some consider doing do so innovative, others unethical. Personally I feel they have positional numbers on the jerseys for a reason. What the Patriots did showed total disregard for that. And it had to be addressed.

This is pathetic. To all you whiners, let me remind you that this is Football 101:

The ends of the line are eligible. The guys on the line between the ends are not.

What is so flippin’ difficult to understand about that?

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Not if you declare a receiver ineligible and line him up in the slot as Belichick did (reread the article, perhaps slower this time) against the Ravens. Then you have somebody, outside the tackle box, that is not an eligible receiver – totally contrary to what you just said. That is what this rule addresses. So apparently for you at least, it is “flippin’ difficult” to comprehend.

These plays are what happens when you begin to decline. You devise ways to win without being as talented as you once were. Probably miss the playoffs next year unless they can figure out another way around those pesky rules.

This is pathetic. To all you whiners, let me remind you that this is Football 101:

The ends of the line are eligible. The guys on the line between the ends are not.

What is so flippin’ difficult to understand about that?

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Not if you declare a receiver ineligible and line him up in the slot as Belichick did (reread the article, perhaps slower this time) against the Ravens. Then you have somebody, outside the tackle box, that is not an eligible receiver – totally contrary to what you just said. That is what this rule addresses. So apparently for you at least, it is “flippin’ difficult” to comprehend.

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Wow, if the Ravens are as stupid about football as you, no wonder they were confused.

The “Slot” is and always has been a step or two behind the line of scrimmage. Not “on the line of scrimmage. Vereen was not a step behind the line of scrimmage. He was on the line – and it was even announce that he was ineligible.

How many football games have you seen?

So, because a media-darling coach like Harbaugh whines about something his team didn’t comprehend, any innovations in football formations regarding the player inside the ends is now done. Over with. Can’t do it. I just think that’s pathetic.

Perhaps we should just go back to the old T formation and not let anyone do anything that defenses haven’t seen before?

It’s call “Creativity”. He’s a fierce competitor and simply has more talent than the coach of my favorite team and all the others.

I tend to get disgusted with the whiners around the league and wish the Packers coaches could come up with a few of these new and creative ideas that Belichick pulls out of his hat; maybe we could have won the Super Bowl this past year instead of the Pats…again and again.

What the NFL competition committee did in changing the ineligible receiver rule based on the Patriots legal use of the rule last season is probably the most cowardly and classless rule change the committee has implemented in the last 15 years in their ongoing efforts to find a way to prevent the greatest Head Coach of all-time and the greatest QB of all-time from continuing to dominate the league. Yet sadly but as expected many fans suffering from Pats envy are applauding the change on this site, as if this will finally be the change that will end the Patriots dominance.

New flash, the Patriots dynasty continues. Try to deal with that in a more proactive manner than whining louder than the Colts and Jets organizations, John Harbaugh, Jeff Fisher and other cowards of the competition committee. Belichick will beat you with his, yours, and whatever the NFL rules. That is who he is and what he does. He is not only the best but also the least phony NFL head coach you will see in your lifetime and that should be embraced, not hated.

All deception needs to be removed. Especially if the New England Patriots use it. Play action passes, pump fakes, reverses, wide receiver passes, fake punts, fake field goals, and anything else that deviates from what fans see as an advantage for New England. Just handle it that way.

Remove ALL fakes, deceptions, and trickery. That would serve to remove a lot of weeping. John Harbaugh can continue his jump ball offense that moves the ball with pass interference penalties. The game will be much more exciting without deception and many coaches that can’t handle it will do much better.